Working Together to Make a Brighter Day for the Mekong

VIETNAM STUDIES PROGRAMME WEBINAR

About the Webinar

Vietnam has made a special effort to emphasize Mekong cooperation as chair of ASEAN and given the importance of the Mekong to Vietnam. At the same time, the extra-regional powers have shown an increasing interest in the affairs of the Mekong. In this context, the speaker will assess the performance of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) over the years, including the three years when he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from 2016 to 2019. He will highlight the challenges and constraints faced by the MRC, and how the MRC complements and/or competes with the other Mekong-related initiatives such as the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC), the Lower Mekong Initiative (now upgraded to the Mekong-US Partnership), the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), the Japan-Mekong Cooperation, and the Mekong-ROK Cooperation. He will further share his insights on the prognosis of the MRC, whether it will just muddle along or whether it will achieve breakthroughs in some areas, and why he thinks so.

This webinar is supported by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

About the Speaker

As the first riparian CEO of the MRC from 18 January 2016 to 17 January 2019, Dr Pham Tuan Phan re-organized the MRC and streamlined its work processes; mobilized funding for five years from 2016 to 2020; and, delivered the famous five-year Council Study – the study on sustainable management and development of the Mekong River. He also concluded the first-ever MRC joint-committee statement on the prior consultation process for the Pak Beng hydropower project in Laos; steered the 2018 3rd MRC summit involving the four riparian prime ministers in Siem Reap, Cambodia to a successful conclusion; and, commissioned all of the designated hydro-meteorological monitoring stations for effective flood forecasting for the entire Mekong region. He previously worked for two Nobel-Peace-Prize international organizations: the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria and, the United Nations in New York, USA. He also led a global telecommunication programme at the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, Austria where he set up the first-of-its-kind global telecommunication network to collect and monitor signals from 321 seismic, infrasound, hydro-acoustic and nuclear stations. This network has been in operation for almost three decades since the 1990s.

Registration

This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.

Please register here to receive your unique link for joining the webinar.

Limited spaces only, register early to avoid disappointment.

To join the webinar,
1. Install the Zoom client onto your computer or download the app on your mobile device.
2. Set up a Zoom account, using the following link: https://zoom.us/signup
3. Click on the unique link in your email.

For the best experience, please mute your microphone. If you have questions for the panellists, please key in your questions via the Q&A, stating your name and affiliation. The moderator will field them to the panellist during the Q&A session.

Date

Dec 04 2020
Expired!

Time

GMT+8
10:00 am - 11:00 am

Location

Webinar